Francesco
''' Portinari '''was Beatrice's younger brother, Dante's best friend and a Third Crusade veteran. Like Dante, he took the Crusades up to reclaim the Holy Land, unlike most of the Crusaders who just wanted to be absolved. He was with Dante at the Battle of Acre. They both watched the prisoners of Acre under the command of Richard the Lionheart. When Dante was "comforted" by the slave girl, Francesco held her husband back from trying to kill Dante. Francesco kept arguing with Dante throughout the Crusades about what Dante was doing when it came to either preserving the prisoners in order to make a truce by the orders of the King or slaughtering them. In an uncontrollable rage, Dante killed all of them, believing them to be heretics. When King Richard saw this, he demanded the accused to step forward. Francesco took the fall in order to save his "brother" and was sentenced to be hanged as Dante fled. Nine Circles Condemned to Hell for his sins during the Crusades, Francesco was deformed into a disfigured human form with half of his face warped into a plantlike appearance, sections of skin removed to reveal muscle tissue and his armor which was now made of bone, stitched to his body. Now a demon, he eagerly awaited the opportunity to kill Dante who he blamed for his descent into demonhood. As a demon, he carried several swords stabbed into his back (Symbolizing how he was "stabbed in the back" by Dante) which he used as melee/projectile weapons. After Dante managed to remove a sword from his heart, Francesco came to his senses and asked why God turned his back on him and the other Crusaders when they did what they did in his name. Dante explained that killing was never in the name of God, just Man and the Bishop lied to them about being absolved. After telling Dante to use his soul to save Beatrice, Francesco was absolved by Dante. Battle Francesco fought similarly to the Damned Crusaders, but with new abilities. He mainly fought with a large sword and defended himself with a shield. If Dante stayed at range, Francesco could throw a sword at him. By dodging the sword and then grabbing it with his scythe, Dante could throw it back at his former friend, damaging his shield. The two thrown swords would destroy Francesco's shield, leaving him vulnerable to attack. However, he could summon a new shield after a short while. As he took damage, Francesco would begin summoning the Damned Captains to assist him. If Dante remained close, he would grab Dante and skewer him onto the sword that protruded from his chest. Movie Francesco was present in Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic, but his appearance was different from the game. While his body was deformed and plant-like, Francesco not only retained his human form (Except that he lost his left eye), but had blonde hair and a beard while in the game, his was brown-headed. He was outfitted with a Templar robe and had no sword stuck in his heart. Like the game, Francesco met and fought Dante, but was not absolved after being defeated, instead disintegrating into sand, merging with the circle itself. Virgil said that he may rest, but he was forever linked to the seventh circle. Dante prayed to God for Francesco to be freed, but was interrupted by Lucifer who taunted Dante. It was unknown if Dante's prayers had any effects on Francesco. Trivia *Francesco bore some similarities to the Barbarian King from the God of War video game series. *Francesco was also very similar to Deimos from the God of War video game series as they both are brothers of the protagonists. They had large beards. They battled in a world with the dead. They attacked the protagonists in a rage and eventually, they redeemed themselves and helped the protagonists later on. *Beatrice's brother's real name was Manetto. Category:Bosses Francesco Portinari Category:Violence Category:Article stubs